Selebi a victim of Scorpions plot - Mrwebi

2010-05-04 18:09

Johannesburg - Former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi "fell victim" to a plot by Scorpions bosses to dethrone him to maintain the status quo, former KwaZulu-Natal Scorpions head Lawrence Mrwebi told the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday.

He told the court that senior Scorpions members panicked when the ANC resolved to disband the Scorpions.

What followed were meetings where "strategies of how we can counter resolutions of the (ANC) policy conference... (how we can) ensure that the (Directorate of Special Operations, known as the Scorpions) continues to exist".

"Scorpions head Mr (Leonard) McCarthy instructed us to ensure that we arrest as many police officers as possible... It became very clear to me that the target was the national commissioner," Mrwebi told the court.

He testified that he wrote an affidavit detailing what was discussed at the meeting after the Browse Mole Report was leaked to the media in 2007.

The affidavit, which he read in court on Tuesday morning, led to his suspension in 2008 for "various forms of misconduct".

Mrwebi's testimony followed that of Brigadier Reginald James Taylor, who worked closely with Selebi at Interpol.